IN THIS ISSUE
Infrastructure plan: Outlook in Congress
President Biden proposed a massive infrastructure plan in late March. Four veteran Washington observers talk about what is likely to pass Congress.
How much shareholder debt?
Determining what mix of debt and equity to use for US acquisitions requires a two-step calculation.
Financing merchant projects after Texas
Hedged merchant power and storage projects in ERCOT can still be financed. Lenders are focused after the February cold snap on unmitigated asymmetric risks.
Climate-change risks for company leaders
Climate change is making it more risky to serve as a director or officer of some energy companies.
Hydrogen: The next frontier
The market for hydrogen breaks down into four areas. Plug Power expects to use 55 kilowatt hours of electricity to produce each kilogram of green hydrogen.
Aggregated PPAs
It is becoming more common to see multiple PPAs signed for a single wind or solar project. Two business models are emerging.
New life for distributed wind
A new wind turbine that can be mounted on light poles along interstate highways has potential. The wind from passing vehicles causes the turbines to spin.
Hydrogen and Japan
Japan wants to become a “hydrogen society” by 2030. The Middle East could again be key to realizing its energy ambitions.
India wants more mines
India is taking steps to encourage more private investment in mines.
Environmental Update April 2021
Various Trump-era environmental positions are either being struck down by the courts or reworked by the Biden administration. New York has streamlined its approval process for new renewable energy projects.
IN OTHER NEWS
Texas wind and solar projects risk new costs
Texas is considering imposing additional costs on wind and solar projects that are already in operation ...
Port backlogs
Port backlogs are adding to cost and could delay construction of some projects.
Pressure builds on Uighur issues
Pressure continues to build to block imports into the United States of solar panels made with polysilicon ...
COVID bar on cutting state taxes
US states are chafing at a provision in the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that Congress enacted in March ...
Carbon border adjustment expected in Europe
The European Union is expected to release details of a carbon border adjustment in June.
Unreliable output forecasts
Climate change is making output from renewable energy projects harder to predict.
Solar projects roll off recapture period
About 15% of us solar projects will reach the end of the recapture period for investment tax credits this year ...
Storage efficiencies
Utility-scale batteries operated with an average round-trip efficiency of 82% during 2019 ...
Projected US capacity additions
Solar, wind and storage are expected together to account for 83.1% of new capacity additions this year in the United States ...
California renewables gap
California will need to triple the capacity of its power grid and may have to add 6,000 megawatts of new renewable and storage facilities ...
Renewables market data points
Half the US renewables M&A deals in 2020 were with foreign buyers.
Not that tax equity.
An April 7 headline in Tax Notes Today read, “Congressional Democrats United on Need for Tax Equity.”